Education Commons^™

Making All Students "Our" Students: Where To Start?, Frank E. Mullins Ph.D., Janice Murdock Ph.D., Phoebe A. Okungu Ph.D., Deann A. Lechtenberg Ph.D.

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

The collaborative team approach is an approach in which general education and special education teachers work together in a single classroom to provide instruction to all students. Neither teacher has more authority than the other.

Education should not be compartments in which one has a mindset of “my students” and “your students”. The mindset must be changed to “our students”. This change in mindsets must begin in pre-service programs in order to carry on to PreK-12 classrooms. As inclusion becomes more and more accepted in public education, educators must be taught strategies that will enable them to work collaboratively with …

What I Didn't Know About Teaching: Stressors And Burnout Among Deaf Education Teachers, J. Lindsey Kennon Ed.D., Margaret H. Patterson M.A.

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

No abstract provided.

Teachability In Leading Organizational Mentees: A Narrative Analysis Of Reverse Mentoring As Reflexive Moments For Coping In Personal Crisis, Robert Tyler Spradley Ph.D., James E. Towns Ph.D.

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

Mentoring is often situated in leadership and coaching literature as a formal, strategic and a beneficial experience. Additional, studies indicate that mentor/mentee relationships can cause tension and even workplace harassment. Most of these studies focus on the power, whether negative or positive, of the leader versus the mentored. This study synthesizes stories lived and stories told using narrative analysis to balance how reverse mentoring simultaneously assists mentors and mentees in making sense of complex communication environments. Highlighting teachability as a chief characteristic of leading, reverse mentoring co-constructs new narratives for both mentor and mentee to cope with crisis situations. Reciprocal …

Amazing Grace, How Sweet The Sound: A Journey In Four Verses, Anita L. Bright

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

Although for some people, faith or membership in a faith community is a life-long, unwavering endeavor, for others, such as this author, initial belief systems can crack and crumble into dust, leaving behind complicated memories that are overlaid with what feel like clearer and more real, contemporary understandings, although at times threaded with sorrow at loss of affiliation (Smith, 2011). This shift from believer to non-believer is nuanced and disquieting, and in many settings, may leave the new non-believer in a dangerous or vulnerable position (Berger, 2013) as an apostate. Informed by an unintentional, un-sought-after outsider, non-believer status, this autoethnographic …

Breaking Stone Tablets, Rejecting Binaries: A Culturally Affirming Approach To Embracing Differentiated Aspects Of Identity, James A. Gambrell

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

Many individuals daily navigate among seemingly contradicting aspects of self, creating a sense of both inclusion and “othering” simultaneously (Johnson-Bailey, 2012). The purpose of this paper is to tease out the complexities I experienced in the past, when I was both a religious educator in an exclusively Latter-day Saint (LDS) work environment, and a social justice-oriented graduate student. Next, I discuss why binary thinking is often harmful for students. Lastly, I recount a biblical metaphor to describe how “right” vs. “wrong” binary thinking often results in teacher saviorism and call on educators to embrace social pluralism. Throughout this paper, I …

Breaking The Taboo: What My Mother’S Recent Suicide Might Teach Us In Critical Social Justice And Faith Work, And Perhaps Beyond, Gail Sue Kasun

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

Suicide is taboo, as is sexual abuse. In this reflective essay, I consider my mother’s final choice, to end her life, inviting the reader to sit with me, to recognize the self in the other. I discuss my mother’s narcissism, her suicide, and the sexual abuse she endured as a child—all taboo. These taboo subjects naturally had massive impacts on my life, and I demonstrate fissures and impacts in this re-storying, as I call it, as I have begun to reframe my life in a post-suicide lens. I invite the reader to consider how breaking the taboo might create a …

Negotiating The Baptist Influence In East Texas: Examining ‘Multiple Reflections’ To Disrupt The Local Sociopolitical Stage, Brandon L. Fox

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

The purpose of this paper is to examine multiple reflections (Ronai, 1995) of a White, southern male navigating through and of the influence of the Missionary Baptist church in rural East Texas. While East Texas continues to engage in social struggle through economics and identity politics, the author desires to examine the role of the Missionary Baptist church in maintaining certain power structures and borders (Anzaldúa, 2012). The author critically reflects on intersections of culture, religion, and power to engage in naming (Freire, 1970) covert means that influence the sociopolitical complex (Conquergood, 2002). Themes across autoethnographic reflections are identified and …

Religion In Schools? The Importance Of Recognizing The Impact Of Religious Experiences, Kimberly K. Ilosvay Edd

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

The school environment is a place of forced contact between diverse peoples. It is the perfect environment to nurture the diverse identities present. The influences on identity (i.e., language, ethnicity, religion, etc.) shape how students perceive information and learn. Some educators use these influences to help them instruct students. However, often overlooked is the influence of religious practices on language use and behavior in classrooms. This paper argues that the significance of understanding the religious practices of students is equally as important for planning instruction as knowing any other aspect of their culture, (i.e., the students’ native language(s)). Framed by …

The Shifting Wholeness Of Our Beings: Intersections Of Faith In Education: An Introduction, Anita L. Bright

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

This is the introduction to a special edition of the Journal of Faith, Education, and Community which examines the ways membership in faith communities and spiritual belief systems play into our professional practices as educators and illuminates how the shifting wholeness of our beings can intersect with our work.

Baby, This World Is Cruel, Nytesia S. Ross

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

This poem is about a woman's fear of bringing a child into this world.

Closing The Gap Or Reaching The Ceiling: An Exploratory Trend Analysis Of The Black White Achievement Gap In Texas, Jemimah Lea Young, Jamaal R. Young

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

The academic achievement gap is an intriguing issue in educational research across the nation, as well as one of the most serious problems facing the United States. Texas has shown tremendous success in narrowing the difference between the percentage of White students and students of color that pass the TAAS and TAKS over two consecutive decades. This study investigated identified evidence a “ceiling effect” may mediate the results of two decades of assessments in the state of Texas. The results suggest that the growth patterns for African American students pass rates were consistently larger than White student growth trajectories, but …

One Child's Story Of School-Experienced Isolation And Rejection, Gloria J. Gresham Dr.

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

Abstract

For twelve years of school, a tiny girl endured isolation and rejection from her peers most likely due to a physical abnormality. As the girl remembers, the educators in a small, rural school district did little to support her as she was ostracized by her classmates and encourage other children to practice compassion. At times, the educators even participated in the rejection of the child. This is the story of a tiny, brown-eyed little girl who experienced isolation and rejection time and time again.

Keywords: isolation, rejection, bullying, abuse

Total Marginality: Cumulative Marginality Among African American Students At A Predominantly White Institution, Marlon C. James, Kristin Kistner Hall, Vanessa Liles, Terra L. Williams, Sonia M. Marrero

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

This study examines the cumulative nature of marginality felt by African American undergraduates attending a Predominantly White institution (PWI). In-depth semi-structured interviews with ten African American college upperclassmen revealed the need for conceptualization of student marginality at PWIs. The participants detailed their exposure to varying levels of marginality in campus spaces, classrooms, course curriculum, residence halls, the community surrounding the institution, elements of their home environment, and interracial and intraracial interactions with students. This study moves beyond descriptive analyses (Feagin, Vera, & Imani 1996; Davis, Dias-Bowie, Greenberg, Klukken, Pollio, Thomas, & Thompson, 2004; Lewis, Ginsberg, Davis, & Smith, 2004) and …

Schooling In Rural East Texas: Contextualizing And Responding To The Needs Of African American Students, Brandon L. Fox, Patrick S. De Walt

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

This critical analysis contextualizes and responds to the current state of education for persons of African descent in rural East Texas, specifically Region VII. The researchers analyzed assessment data, attendance data, demographic data, and discipline data from the Texas Education Agency. Selected data provided a pathway to explore variables that directly impact students’ academic performance and identities. Findings from this study highlight concerns that range from discrepancies in out-of-school suspensions, disproportionate representation of faculty with the student populations, and challenges faced by East Texas schools and school districts to meet state and federal policies and accountability standards. The authors recommend …

The Mothers Of Exiles: Authentic Project-Based Learning In A Social Studies Classroom, Sarah Straub

MLET: The Journal of Middle Level Education in Texas

Dewey and Freire were the initial champions of community engagement in the classroom. This has been refined and adopted by researchers in the development of project-based learning. This specific project includes a component of community service that contributes to the engagement of students in the project. This article chronicles the planning and development of a project as well as the impact that students had on the community. This specific type of project was designed using the SAGE acronym - Student Choice, Authenticity, Global Significance, and Exhibition.

Parental Perceptions Of Independence And Efficacy Of Their Children With Visual Impairments, Michael P. Munro, Maricela M. Garza M.Ed., Janiel R. Hayes M.Ed., Elizabeth A. Watt M.Ed.

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

Raising any child to become successful and self-sufficient presents challenges to all parents; however, the complexity of the decision-making in parenting may become more intricate for parents of children with visual impairments. It can be a challenge determining the balance between intense overprotection for reasons of safety versus the encouragement and attention to the participation in unique or challenging learning experiences. Parents of children with visual impairments may also struggle to find the fine line between viewing the child through he lens of the impairment (as other or less than) versus treating the child in the same manner other …

Supporting Systems Change Via Participatory Decision-Making: Positive Behavioral Intervention And Support Program Development, Rebecca J. Cook Ph.D., Frank E. Mullins Ph.D., Phoebe A. Okungu Ph.D., Thomas J. Sinclair M.Ed.

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

This article describes the successful application of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program through participatory decision-making by an entire school faculty. The unique feature of this program was the use of the Nominal Group Technique to elicit a bottom-up approach of securing participants’ input and commitment. It demonstrates the process of research to practice in the school setting that cuts through resistance to change by creating a consensus environment. This process can be easily implemented by school districts to develop programs that meet students and staff needs in a change-friendly fashion.

The Development Of School Psychology Assessment Centers As Training, Service Delivery, And Research Sites, Nina M. Ellis-Hervey Ph.D., Ashley N. Doss B.S., Deshae C. Davis B.S., Alison Wilhite-Bradford M.A.

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

School Psychologists have an ongoing responsibility to promote and support healthy schools, families, and communities, while contributing to knowledge, research, teaching, and supervision. Consequently, School Psychology programs should seek to meet these goals by providing their students with opportunities to engage in research and effective service delivery, participate in outreach services, and continued professional development. During Fall of 2013, faculty, students, and personnel of the School Psychology Program at Stephen F. Austin State University successfully developed a School Psychology Assessment Center, which is maintained on the university’s campus. The primary objective of this university-approved Center is the enhancement of service …